Breathing easy in Trail

Columbia Respiratory specializes in sleep apnea screening and in-home oxygen therapy

Brett Kryski opened Columbia Respiratory in Trail, B.C., in April 2017. — Photo courtesy Brett Kryski

Oxygen is our first and most immediate requirement for life, and Brett Kryski has been helping people in the Kootenay region to breathe easier for the past 25 years.

In 1993, two years after earning his Registered Respiratory Therapist diploma at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, Kryski returned to his hometown of Trail. After more than a decade of conducting clinics in health centres throughout the surrounding area, he started his own company, Columbia Respiratory, in April 2017.

Kryski said that since the early 1990s, with the opening of more sleep labs, increasing numbers of people are being diagnosed with sleep apnea, a serious disorder that causes breathing to be interrupted during sleep.

“The people around here know me and they trust me,” Kryski said, “I was encouraged to open my own company to help those with sleep apnea and those in need if home oxygen therapy.”

Convenient in-home screening

Kryski works closely with sleep labs and family practitioners, offering free screening for suspected sleep apnea. This is a considerable convenience for his clients, who would otherwise have to wait for an appointment and travel to a sleep lab. While many people are referred by their family physician or nurse practitioner, people can self-refer by simply contacting his office.

“I spend a lot of time educating people about their condition and how our services can help them,” said Kryski. “That focus on service is most important to me as it provides the most benefit to our clients.”

Columbia Respiratory also provides home oxygen therapy assessments and equipment for people with compromised lung function, often due to diseases like emphysema, lung cancer, diabetes and cardiac disease.

As an added service, Kryski and his staff are happy to help their clients to navigate the process of securing funding for home oxygen supplies and equipment.

“My personal greatest reward is knowing that the work I’ve done with the client is going to have a positive impact on their overall health through treatment, education and services,” said Kryski. “Prevention is more valuable than treatment. If you can prevent disease or the worsening of any medical condition, that’s a huge benefit for the client.”

The solution to improved health could be as simple as a good night’s sleep.